Woodside Urban Park (downtown Silver Spring)

This large, pretty, well-shaded playground, at the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Spring Street, has three separate climbing structures -- each one with unique and interesting features -- plus a bunch of stand-alone favorites, including two pretend cars, an airplane bouncer, a climbing web, and several varieties of things that spin. Add in four baby swings, two regular swings, picnic tables, and wooden barriers for walking on, and you've got yourself a kids' paradise. This one will definitely go on my list of playgrounds to visit often.

Also in the park: tennis courts, basketball courts, a two-sided racquetball court, and a skate track.

White Oak Community Recreation Center Playground (White Oak)

The White Oak Recreation Center (1700 April Lane) has two playgrounds. The first, which is the one you see as you drive in, is a nice and fairly standard younger kids playground. The "5-12 years" playground (pictured) is on the far side of the rec center. It has a number of cool climbing structures and features, plus a younger kids structure of its own off to the side, making it a particularly good playground if you have kids of various ages. There are bathrooms (and some other amenities) available in the rec center when it's open, plus a large field and "skate spot" near the younger kids' playground. (Unfortunately, the two playgrounds are separated by the parking lot, so it's usually going to be necessary to choose one at a time.)

Green Park (Gaithersburg)

Words cannot do this playground justice. So I took lots of pictures instead -- which was easy to do, since it was not over-crowded even on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon.

In short: I spent the afternoon here with a 10-year-old, 7-year-old, 5-year-old, and 1-year-old, and every single one of them had plenty to do... plus, they begged to come back the next Sunday. A++.

(If you're using GPS to get here, I advise aiming it at the dog park -- 251 Bickerstaff Way, Gaithersburg MD. When I tried the playground itself, my GPS landed me on a random spot on the highway adjacent to the park. From the dog park, continue down the road; the playground is on the left, and there is street-side parking right next to it.)

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